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I have been a SUPER SLACKER on my To-Reads Tuesdays lately. I wish there was some way to quit and be a full time blogger/reader… but alas, I must make money. So until some smitten publisher comes and swoops me up, I do have to work a normal job.

Instead of giving some in-depth analysis into one book, below is a list of all the 2013 releases I am looking forward to for the next 6 months!

This book reminds me a lot of Scarlet by A.C Gaughen. It’s a little slip of a story with a lot of fluff and not a lot of meat. Although I will admit that I had QUITE the shock when we find out who Kyra’s mom is. GASP! I was totally taken by surprise. So well done, Zinn.

I am always hesitant to read stand alone books because there just is not enough time to really get into the story. The characters, the world, the premise tend to be a bit superficial. ESPECIALLY when it’s a fantasy book. To develop a world in 300 pages that’s believable, a plot that viable, and a character that’s relatable is pretty much impossible. Hence my beef with stand alone fantasy books and this book in particular. The pro-tag was meh, the storyline was alright and I couldn’t even begin to explain the world because it wasn’t explained at all in the book.

If I was to describe this book, I would stick with words like “cute” and “quaint”. It’s a little young, maybe more geared to late middle-grade, than YA readers. I mean come on, she has a baby pig as a pet guide dog. And there’s no real tension or anything truly gripping but it’s an easy read. So, if you are looking for a true fluff book, something you don’t really have to pay attention to, go for it. But if you are looking for something with true substance, look elsewhere my friends.

I am going to make this simple as I can: I liked this book but it confused the shit out of me. It was an interesting concept that was totally in it’s own world of weirdness. It was an intriguing storyline and that cover??? TO. DIE. FOR.

Now, there are pros and cons to being such a different story. It was it’s own completely unique concept and like nothing I’ve ever read before, therefore the book had some hurdles to jump through to compensate that my WSOD was confronted with this scenario for the first time. As bad as this may sound, once you’ve read a dystopia novel or fantasy novel, you kind of “get” how they play out. For dystopias, there’s always a cause for the apocalypse or downfall of democracy, there are people that took over, there are people that are trying to fight them, and then there’s the on going battle of survival or take down of the new government. Details vary in each dystopia but they have the same basic gist and premise in every book. Fantasy books always have a unique world, usually forresty and flowery with some kind of ancient magic attached to it, a pro-tag with some kind of connection to said land magic, and a evil doer trying to exploit that magic.

This book however, had none of these elements.

It WAS a fantasy book, but also with a science fiction flavor in it. But the science was based off the fantasy world so it wouldn’t actually count for “sci fi”. Also, you never really learn if this world is OUR world, just years before/after our time, or a completely new planet. Because it has the same properties as our world, plants, animals, gravity, ECT. but it also has slyphs (black shadow things that attack and burn you), dragons, trolls, and centaurs. Oh and then there’s that thing where only one million souls are ever born and they keep being reincarnated.

So besides being confused on where the hell and when the hell this whole story takes place, I liked it. Which is strange because I was VERY confused at times. Ana, our pro-tag, is all over the place with rapid fire decision making skills and emotional changes I could hardly keep up with. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on… and the “love story”? Pooh. And yet for some strange reason… I still liked it?

Ah well… *shurgs* Read it for me and then maybe we can all get together and discuss it, yeah?

The first in a new two-book series about an orphaned princess fighting to reclaim her kingdom while hiding her power from the masked vigilante hunting her, set in a world where magic is not just forbidden, but will soon destroy everything…

Lauren Oliver confirmed that this stand-alone novel will fit into the genre of realistic fiction. It tells the story of a small Upstate New York town where the teens play a very dangerous game every summer.

My reaction:

A “stand-alone” book? In the YA genre? By someone who’s already had an extremely successful trilogy with FOUR bridges?